


War of the White Wolf, PART I: Infinity War

by KingOfDusk



Series: War of the White Wolf [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes-centric, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Character Death, Drama & Romance, Family Feels, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Headcanon, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Not Canon Compliant, POV Bucky Barnes, Pain, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Redemption, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Team as Family, Wakanda, White Wolf - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-16 12:23:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14811318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingOfDusk/pseuds/KingOfDusk
Summary: This story is an alternate version of Infinity War from Bucky's point of view, showing his path towards redemption and letting go of his past as he is forced to pick up arms once again to fight an incoming alien attack. We follow Bucky struggling to balance the fight against Thanos' Black Order and the fight against his own mind, as he tries to come to terms with his past and his feelings for Steve.The story starts a few days before the official Infinity War storyline. Because the story follows/references the movie in the first few chapters, it is adviced to see it first.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> //Writers note: This is my first fanfiction ever. Actually, it's been over 6 years since I even read any fanfiction. The only reason I'm writing this is because I need more Bucky in my life and I had a fun headcanon that got a little out of hand. Commentary and tips are always appreciated, as well as pointing out any grammar or spelling mistakes//

_“Bucky?”_

_One simple word. Funny, how that word changed everything. Of course, nobody knew me as Bucky at the time. In fact, nobody knew me at all. I was a tool, a weapon, a killing machine: everything that made me human was deemed inefficient by Hydra, and therefore unnecessary. I was nothing more than what they made me… The Winter Soldier._

 

Bucky sighed as he looked up from the notebook. It was the oldest one he had, the pages already turning yellow and the cover falling apart, the entire thing kept together by tape and rubber bands. It had been about 4 years since he rescued Steve from the Potomac River, and while Shuri had removed his trigger words, she didn’t remove his memories. She had offered to, of course, and he answered that he’d think about it. But while walking through the halls of the lab, he already knew he wouldn’t do it. Because while the memories of being the Winter Soldier tormented him every day, he somehow felt like he deserved that. He never told Steve about this, because he already knew what he’d say. “It wasn’t you Buck.” But whether it was his decision or not, the blood of all the people he killed was still on his hands. He would lay awake at night, in cheap hostels or in the woods, with his eyes closed, visualizing what he’d done. His whole life he had served: He had been in the military for as long as he could remember, before falling into the hands of Hydra. And now that his life was finally his, he wished he didn’t have it anymore. His past gave him anxiety during the day and nightmares during the night, and the only thing that calmed his mind was to write. It didn’t cure him from the guilt he felt, but at least it allowed him to sleep at night. He tried to keep up to date with the world by reading old newspapers he had taken out of trashcans, and slowly but surely, he tried going out in public again. Nobody ever recognized him: after Hydra’s files got leaked on the internet everyone had access to information about the Winter Soldier, but like every viral new item, it got old and people forgot about it, if they even bothered to look him up at all. But not Steve, of course. Steve kept looking for him, and Bucky knew. He knew Steve wanted to find him, and he wanted that too. But every time they got close he ran, scared to put his old best friend through the pain and effort of seeing him like this. Even then, with The Winter Soldier still fresh in his mind, he thought about Steve a lot, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, hoping that Steve would forget about him.

 

And then Bucharest happened. It was the first time he saw Steve up close in 2 years, and all the memories and feeling he had pushed away hit him like a truck. Back then, he couldn’t make sense of it all, as the adrenaline rush of the fighting and running prevented him from thinking clearly. But he didn’t need to think clearly to know Steve made him feel things he hadn’t felt in a long time, even if he couldn’t exactly place it then. He didn’t remember much of that time except fear, anger and pain, but one image had stuck in his mind. He was sitting in Steve’s ridiculous getaway car, looking at Steve talking to Sharon, trying to read their lips to figure out what they were saying… And then they kissed. He saw Sam grinning at him and he smiled too, but inside of him everything fell into place. He thought about that moment often, but instead of Sharon it was him kissing Steve, feeling his warm hands in his hair, and Steve’s perfect lips slowly touching his. And he told himself he would tell him after the fighting was over but there was always another fight, always another problem to fix, and his Winter Soldier triggers were still inside his brain, like a timebomb just waiting to blow, and no matter how much he wanted Steve, he wanted him and everyone else to be safe even more. He had hurt enough people alrea-

 

‘SERGEANT BARNES!’

 

‘I told you not to call me that, Shuri’, Bucky said as he quickly closed his notebook and threw it in a drawer of his desk.

 

‘Whatever, White Wolf,’ Shuri said as she dropped down on the bed. ‘I have been working on that arm of yours, and it’s almost ready for a test. I only need to configure the neurotransmittors and maybe finetune some things, but I really want you to reconsider the blaster option.’

 

‘For the last time, I don’t want any weapons,’ Bucky sighed. ‘Besides, what am I going to use a blaster for? The only thing that seems to attack me here is these damned goats.’

 

‘You think that blaster option is just for you? Come on old man, you really don’t know me at all. I just want to make this boring project a bit more interesting.’

 

Bucky was quiet for a minute. He knew it didn’t make sense for him not to use it, especially after Shuri spend her time designing it for him, but still... The arm was part of the Winter Soldier, but it wasn’t part of him. He hated everything about it: It hurt when he used it, the scars of his lost limb being teared open with every mission, and the red star that stood for everything he didn’t want to be.

 

‘Really, if you could look more melancholic you’d think you were at a funeral. A simple no would have sufficed, you know.’

 

‘Oh no, its not like that, it’s just…’

 

Before he could say more, he felt Shuri’s hand on his shoulder.

 

‘It reminds you of everything?’

 

Bucky nodded, surprised at the sudden tone of kindness in her voice.

 

‘Well, if its any consolation, I made it a different colour. But, if you still think it resembles the original too much, I can always attach a flamethro-‘

 

‘You can forget it.’

 

‘Your loss, Sergeant Barnes,’ Shuri said teasingly as she started walking towards the door. ‘Oh and by the way, I would take a shower if I were you. You smell like goats.’

 

‘As long as I don’t look like one,’ Bucky said with a soft smile.

 

‘You’re not far off with that beard, old man. If you let it grow any longer I might not recognize you the next time I visit. Oh and also…’ The rest of her sentence got lost as a ball of grass hit her in the face, almost knocking her off her feet.

 

‘You know I’m a princess and I could get you executed for that, right?’ Shuri said as she wiped a bit of grass from her lips.

 

Bucky laughed. ‘And I’m a crippled senior, kid. Maybe I’ll complain to T’Challa that his little sister bullies the elderly. I feel like that should be just as execution worthy as throwing stuff at sassy teenagers.’

 

Shuri said nothing as she walked away, raising her arm to make an obscene gesture at Bucky before getting onto the hovering vehicle waiting outside the fence.

 

‘Oh and by the way, someone’s coming over soon,’ Shuri yelled over the sound of the engines charging up. ‘You might know him from the retirement home!’

 

‘I might be an old man but I can still kick your ass!’ Bucky exclaimed, but his words got lost in the cloud of dust created by Shuri’s speeder. He watched her until she crossed the forest line and then proceeded to walk back to his hut, thinking about what Shuri just said. ‘Retirement home,’ he mumbled to himself, ‘that’s the third old man joke she’s made today. With all that intelligence I expected more creative insults. I wonder if…’

 

He froze and slowly looked in the direction Shuri had disappeared, seeing the tops of buildings just barely visible above the treeline. A smile crossed his face because he realized there was only one other senior worth mentioning to him, and he felt his heart skip a beat.

 

‘It’s been a while, Steve.’


	2. II

‘He’s had enough, my king.’

‘I know. But if this is as bad as it seems we do not have much of a choice, general.’

‘We can’t force him to fight.’

T’Challa looked down for a minute as he thought about his answer. It almost seemed like he completely forgot about what he was going to say, until he finally, he let out a heavy sigh.

‘It is not up to us to decide his fate, and I will not force him. But I have observed him, and…’ He hesitated for a minute. ‘I think he will fight, but not for us. He will not let people make decisions for him anymore, maybe with exception to his friend. No… I think he will fight for himself. I feel as if guilt still consumes him, and this fight will either give him the redemption he has been looking for… or it will kill him.’

Bucky had heard enough. He never meant to eavesdrop, but when he heard T’Challa say his name he couldn’t help waiting by the entrance of the throne room to listen. He mindlessly touched the stump where his arm had been for a second before he walked off in the direction he came from. He wandered through the halls of the palace a lot, marveling at the technology that surrounded the entire building and the city around it. He had never seen anything like it, and while it seemed like another world, it still felt… familiar. Sometimes he encountered the Dora Milaje or servants of the palace, but they mostly ignored him. He didn’t mind though: Exploring relaxed him, and he didn’t feel the need to socialize with any of the Wakandans. Very rarely he would meet T’Challa himself, who would always greet him no matter what he was doing or how busy he seemed. And then there was Shuri. Bucky smiled for a moment. She had been bullying him ever since he was taken out of cryo but he knew that was just a façade. And even if it wasn’t, he would still hold her in the highest regard. A sixteen-year-old girl managed to succeed in doing what nobody else could have done. Or, well… perhaps Tony Stark, he thought to himself, but he wouldn’t want to see him again. Steve told him he had send Tony a letter with an explanation and an apology, but at that point he was already back in cryo, and he never asked Steve about the exact contents of his apology letter. Bucky waited for a minute to let a group of guards pass and then walked out the door, covering his eyes as the last rays of sunlight hit his face. This place never gets old, he thought to himself, as he watched the magnetic train system race by. He walked alongside the main road for a few minutes, counting the narrow alleyways on his right before taking a turn. In the past months since he was awake, he hadn’t done much other than walking around and trying to figure out a way to remove his triggers with Shuri. The first few months he lived in a chamber somewhere close to Shuri’s lab, and when he moved to his hut on the outskirts of the city T’Challa had offered to have him picked up by hovercarrier. Sometimes he did, but usually he got there by himself, slowly but surely learning about the city and its secrets. He passed a group of playing children, took a small stairway leading down through two huts, and then he was standing in the tall, soft grass, with the path leading away from the city a few feet to his left.

It felt like not even a minute had passed when he saw the familiar sight of his simple hut and the goat pen next to it appear from behind the hills. He had been thinking about the conversation between Okoye and T’Challa. Earlier that day, when he met with Shuri to do some tests, he had noticed something was wrong. Apparently, nobody knew exactly what was going on, but by the anxious looks on people’s faces it couldn’t be good. “If the things we heard are true you’ll know soon enough, White Wolf,” she said when he asked her what was going on. Well, that had been a familiar excuse back when he was in the army, and usually, it was just a nice way of saying that everything was likely going to turn to shit.

He had arrived at the edge of the fence, and carefully stepped over it, laughing when he saw a few goats run in his direction.

‘Look, if you guys come begging for food you’re getting nothing. Back in formation, soldiers.’

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he swore the three goats stopped for a second, before continuing to harass his legs.

‘Fine. It’s that I was planning to feed you all anyways, otherwise you’d be out of luck,’ he said as he reached over the fence to grab a bag of food from a barrel next to it. Trying his best to stay as balanced as he could with his one arm, he managed to lift the bag over the fence. In the meantime, all the goats had gathered around him, desperate for the food he was still holding in his hand.

‘Really guys, I have one hand and multiple goats. Please just wait for your turn…’

Bucky looked to the side, to see one of the goats biting at the bag.

‘I’m calling you Steve,’ he mumbled to himself, ‘Because you’re an impatient idiot.’ He sighed and sat down, trying to keep the goats away from the bag with his legs while feeding them from his hand. He knew that it wouldn’t work very long and that the goats would soon realize that it was way easier just to sneak around him and eat straight from the bag. After a few minutes he carefully got back up, threw the remaining contents of the bag on the ground, and walked towards his hut. It looked exactly like he had left it earlier that day: A ventilation system softly humming in the windowsill, a half empty container of a weird liquid he had bought yesterday at a marketplace, and a bowl of plums on the table. He walked to the bedroom and sat down, his hand reaching for a relatively new notebook that was lying on his pillow.

He had been writing again. He couldn’t even remember why: He just bought a notebook when he came back from one of his trips, and a week later he returned to buy another. He didn’t have to write to remember anymore, and so he wrote a whole bunch of other stuff: He made a backstory for all his goats, he wrote about how Wakanda looked, and even a short story in which T’Challa and M’Baku were roommates. Bucky grinned. He never even met M’Baku, but based on what Shuri had told him, he was a 7 feet guy with a beard who wore ridiculously short leather skirts and almost kicked T’Challa’s ass during a fight. But mostly, he had been writing about Steve: short letters that he would never actually send, or just his thoughts. He had hoped that it would make things clearer for him, but he was still as confused as ever. He flipped through the notebook until he found the page with the small question mark on top, taking a deep breath before reading what it said.

_Do I still love Steve?_

 

The rest of the page was still empty. He planned to write down possible answers, but… He didn’t have any. Or maybe he did, but he was simply too scared to admit it. Deep inside, he had known for a while. With his heart beating in his throat, he reached for the pencil on the bedside table, hesitated for a moment, and then wrote down one single word.

_No._


	3. III

Bucky knew they were coming.

It had been a few hours since Shuri sent him a message saying that T’Challa was coming to see him, and he had been anxiously waiting for the royal ship to appear on the horizon. He had barely slept all night, and not just because of the impending danger, but also at the thought of seeing Steve again. Sure, he had spoken to him before, but this time it was… different. In the past, there was always an excuse not to talk about his feelings. There was always a ‘next time’, always a ‘maybe later’, and so he kept his secret to himself, like he had done with so many secrets before. Bucky stood up, threw the kimoyo bead he had been unconsciously playing with on the table, and walked to the small mirror hanging next to the sink. ‘This time I’ll talk to him,’ he mumbled to himself, brushing his hair out of his face. He plucked at a strand of hair that was curlier than the rest, a reminder of when some Wakandan kids tried to braid his hair. A hint of a smile appeared on his face and for a moment he felt at peace, before the faint sound of an aircraft brought him back to reality. He took a deep breath, took one last look at himself, and walked outside, just in time to see a small ship land about a hundred feet away. Careful not to lose balance, he stepped over the fence into the goat pen, and crouched down waiting for the goats the run towards him. ‘They better take good care of you guys while I’m fighting their war,’ he said jokingly, ‘Otherwise I won’t go’. He looked to the aircraft again and saw that six people had made if halfway to his hut. He recognized T’Challa and Okoye immediately, followed by four guards carrying a long metallic looking box. He sighed, pushed the goats away, and then started to make his way towards the Wakandan king.

‘You don’t seem surprised to see us, sergeant Barnes.’

‘At this point I doubt anything will surprise me anymore,’ Bucky said. ‘But in this case, it’s because your sister is not that great at keeping secrets.’

T’Challa looked at Okoye for a second before gesturing to the group of guards standing behind him. Two of them grabbed the box to put it in front of T’Challa and opened it revealing the vibranium arm inside, before rejoining the others.

 ‘Where’s the fight,’ Bucky said softly, without taking his eyes off the arm.

‘On its way’

Bucky didn’t say anything. So this is it, he thought. He grabbed the cloth he had draped over his shoulder and removed it, revealing the attachment piece Shuri had put on a few days ago. He grabbed the arm out of the box and without hesitation he attached it to his shoulder, hearing the familiar click and then the weird, fuzzy feeling in his chest and back as tech in the arm connected to his nervous system.

‘The ship is ready for you, sergeant Barnes.’

‘Go ahead, I’ll be there in a second. There’s something I need to do first.’

For a second, T’Challa looked surprised, but then he simply nodded and ordered the Okoye and the guards to return to the ship. 

‘Make it quick, White Wolf. I’d like to make it back in time to welcome our reinforcements.’

‘It won’t take long,’ Bucky replied. ‘I know exactly what I’m looking for.’

He stepped back inside his hut, walked to the bedroom and opened the big wooden crate at the end of his bed. He pushed some of the clothes inside out of the way, revealing a slightly smaller container with a combination lock. He felt his stomach clench up a little and he took a deep breath before entering the combination.

_070418_

With a soft click the container sprung open. Bucky stood still for a moment. For the past weeks, he had been able to push the events in Siberia away, and he thought that once Shuri freed him of his triggers, it might have been easier to pick up the gun. But here it was, the brushed steel shining softly in the small beam of sunlight peaking through a crack in the wall, an inanimate object with the power to kill dozens, and he felt the exact feeling he had felt when he picked it up the first time.

Fear.

‘I won’t turn back again,’ he whispered to himself.

_The car, driving on an abandoned road at night._

_‘It’s different this time.’_

_Starks parents, dead because of him._

_‘It’s different.’_

_Tony standing in Siberia, watching footage of him killing his parents._

_‘That’s not me anymore.’_

 

‘The Winter Soldier is gone, White Wolf.’

Bucky rapidly turned his head, wiping his eyes that had started to fill with tears. T’Challa was standing in the doorway, his usually so neutral expression replaced with concern.

‘Are you sure you are ready for this?’

‘I’m not going to change the past,’ Bucky said quietly. ‘All I can do is change the future.’

He grabbed the gun and the two boxes of ammunition, closed the box, and turned to T’Challa.

‘Listen, I know you are worried about me. I also know that you’re going to be attacked by something big. It’s not like I could just stay here and watch everyone else fight for me.’

‘We could find a safe place for you in the palace.’

Bucky walked towards T’Challa, put his hand on his shoulder, and looked him in the eyes

‘If that was true you wouldn’t have asked me to fight.’

T’Challa looked at Bucky’s face, and saw that the fear he saw a second ago had disappeared. He still looked tired, but now there was something else, a look he recognized immediately.

Determination.

‘You are an interesting man, White Wolf.’

‘Not interesting enough according to your sister.’

‘Nothing is interesting enough for my sister,’ T’Challa said laughing. ‘She is way smarter than anyone I’ve ever met, and that usually makes most things boring to her. I can see how a white man who hangs out with his goats all day isn’t interesting enough to her.’

‘I… no nothing,’ Bucky said, but a big smile formed on his face.

‘What is it?’

‘Well…’ Bucky hesitated for a second. ‘She said I was far more interesting than you.’

And without waiting for T’Challa’s response, Bucky quickly stepped outside, the cold steel of the gun feeling comfortable in his hands for the first time in years.


	4. IV

Bucky felt weird.

He hadn’t said much since he got on the ship with T’Challa, apart from greeting Shuri when they landed, but she had to leave almost immediately to prepare the lab. It’s not like anyone really felt like talking anyways. On their way to the palace, T’Challa had explained to him what it was they were up against; an alien army led by someone called Thanos, who came here looking for something called Infinity Stones, and one of those stones is stuck in Vision’s head. “We don’t have to defeat him,” T’Challa had told him, “just hold him off until Shuri removes the stone so that we can destroy it.” Bucky nodded, but he already knew that it wouldn’t be so easy. Sure, he might not know as much about aliens, but he knows everything about war. Even if they could destroy this stone, this… Thanos, whoever it is, would not just leave. In fact, he might even become more determined to destroy them.

Bucky sighed. He had wanted to say something, but the look in T’Challa’s eyes while he explained the situation had made him realize that the king already knew. He knew that he would have to put the lives of his own people on the line, to _maybe_ save the world, and Bucky felt sorry for him. He only ever had to look out for Steve, and even that made him anxious sometimes, because he knew Steve had a tendency to get in trouble. But to stand for an entire nation, knowing that everyone that dies did it for you? It was the first time Bucky saw T’Challa like this: not a proud, powerful king, but a man who carried the weight of millions of lives on his shoulders.

‘A ship just came though the barrier, my king.’

In a flash Bucky’s attention was back to the real world. T’Challa and Okoye stood a few feet in front of him, seemingly looking at the sky, when the familiar shape of a Quinjet appeared in the distance. Within seconds, the jet was hovering above the platform, the repulsor engines roaring as the ship turned around and landed in front of them, and then the door opened, slowly revealing the people on the ship. Steve walked out first with a VERY blonde Natasha by his side, followed by Rhodey and a small, nervous looking guy Bucky had never seen before. He saw Steve exchange some words with T’Challa, and then saw the guy he didn’t know bow to T’Challa.

Bucky chuckled. He didn’t know T’Challa that well, but well enough to know that seeing a stranger bow to him wasn’t something he was used to.

‘How are we looking?’

‘You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and…’

‘A semi-stable hundred-year old man,’ Bucky said smiling, passing the Kingsguard and walking towards Steve.

A smile fell over Steve’s face as he put his hand on Bucky’s shoulder.

‘How have you been Buck?’

‘Not bad.’ Bucky said, ‘for the end of the world.’

‘I see you finally got yourself a new arm?’

‘I see you still haven’t gotten a new haircut?’

Steve laughed, and then wrapped his arms around Bucky, embracing him in a hug that felt like it lasted a lifetime. ‘It’s good to see you again Buck,’ Steve whispered in Bucky’s ear. ‘But I don’t think I’m the one who needs a haircut.’

‘The kids here love the long hair, Steve. That beard you have going on though, that’s just going to scare them away.’

‘Maybe so, but at least it isn’t in the way. Can’t say that for your long hair.’

Bucky stopped for a second. He had actually considered cutting it the same way he used to wear it back in the forties, but he wasn’t going to let Steve win this. Besides, the beard was getting out of control at this point. When Steve came to visit him in Wakanda for the first time and Bucky saw the beard, it had been impossible for him not to laugh. Because no matter how muscular Steve got, to him he would always be the skinny kid from Brooklyn and imagining the pre-serum Steve with a beard like that made him burst out laughing, until he looked at Steve and saw tears rolling down his cheeks.

_‘Steve? Is everything okay?’_

Steve had smiled at him, wiped his tears away, and hugged Bucky like he never had before.

_‘This is the first time I’ve seen you laugh like this in 75 years’_

‘Captain! Are you coming with us?’

‘Of course, your majesty.’ Steve looked at Bucky one more time, before turning around and following T’Challa inside.

Bucky’s eyes followed Steve as he walked inside with Vision, Wanda and the unknown man, who was now frantically discussing with Shuri. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but, judging by the way they talked and kept gesturing to Vision, he assumed he had to be some sort of scientist. His eyes turned back to Steve, not noticing another person had walked out of the Quinjet.

‘VANILLA ICE! How are you doing?’

Bucky turned around and was met by a familiar face grinning at him, one he hadn’t seen for a long time.

‘You’re really going to keep calling me that huh?’

‘It’s a good combination! Vanilla Ice and Chocolate Chino, you know?’

Bucky shook his head, trying not to laugh.

‘If you think I’m going to call you that you can stop dreaming, Sam. It’s not gonna happen.’

Sam grabbed his hand and pulled him into something that vaguely resembled a hug. ‘If you say so, buddy.’ He looked at Bucky for a second, before pointing at the building Steve and the other had entered a minute ago. ‘You know what they’re doing in there?’

Bucky sighed. ‘I know what they’re _trying_ to do, yeah. Something about aliens, Infinity Stones, and a guy trying to destroy half the universe.’

Sam looked at him for a second, then shook his head in disbelief. ‘You know, you make it sound so casual,’ he said jokingly. ‘Does nothing phase you at all?’

‘The first week I was here I already saw so much stuff I thought to be impossible aliens aren’t really something I find surprising anymore. And besides, it won’t be the first alien invasion on earth, will it? The Avengers fought some before.’

‘Yeah, about that… on the way here Banner said that that was him too. Thanos. The attack on New York, he planned that, and now he’s back.’

Bucky was quiet for a second. Banner… that must be the guy he didn’t recognize. He swore he had heard that name before, but he couldn’t remember when. Maybe something Hydra related, he thought, or perhaps Steve had mentioned him.

‘Either way, we’re in for a good fight!’ Sam exclaimed. ‘These guys don’t mess around.’

‘You’ve seen them before?’

‘Oh yeah. Real nasty looking. Dangerous. One of them almost killed Vision when he stabbed him through the stomach with a pointy stick, and the other one is basically the definition of an angry ex-girlfriend, except with horns.’

‘Damnit, Sam.’

‘Hey, watch it. The captain doesn’t like that kind of language.’

Bucky smiled. The first time Sam had seen him, he had thrown him from a helicarrier and almost killed him. He had to trust Steve on his word alone and yet he had never once hesitated to help Steve find him, and Bucky had immense respect for that. But what he found even more intriguing was the fact that Sam didn’t seem afraid of him. They had met only a few times but in that short time they had formed something like a friendship, and even though they weren’t very close, he enjoyed having Sam around.

‘Do you still bring that “language” joke up? You weren’t even there.’

‘It’s hilarious and you know it.’

‘I’m just-‘

The rest of his sentence got interrupted by a sharp beeping of the communication device in his ear. At the same time, he felt Sam tap on his arm and point at the sky, where a couple of strange, dark objects had started to appear, falling towards the city.

Bucky opened his mouth to say something to Sam when his earpiece beeped again, this time followed by one simple message.

 

  _“Guys? We’ve got incoming.”_


	5. V

The first impact almost didn’t feel real. Bucky’s eyes were fixated on the large alien ship, growing larger and larger as it came closer to the surface, before it crashed down onto the city’s forcefield, exploding into pieces. And then, with a thunderous, deafening sound the second ship hit the ground just outside the dome, and Bucky felt the familiar small rush of adrenaline that he always felt before a fight, but this time there was something else. Something darker. Something he had not felt while he was the Winter Soldier.

_Fear._

‘Barnes?’ Sam’s voice sounded far away, like there was a wall between them.

‘It’s time man, come on.’

_Fear. And with that fear came memories. Cold winds blowing through the mountain peaks, biting at his skin. The constant screeching and thumping of the train carts. Steve reaching out to grab his hand. The sound of metal breaking. Screams, both Steve’s and his own, barely audible over the overwhelming sound of the howling wind, intertwining into a song of despair while he fell... And then nothing._

‘Buck.’

Steve’s voice.

Bucky turned around, and forced a smile.

‘I’m alright.’

‘You know you don’t have to fight,’ Steve said.

‘Are you worried about me?’

‘Always.’

Bucky smiled again, but this time it was genuine. ‘The roles really have switched, haven’t they? I’m pretty sure I was the one that always used to worry about you.’

Steve laughed. ‘That was before I was taller than you.’

‘Captain.’ T’Challa had joined them, together with the few Avengers Steve had arrived with. ‘We have the ships ready.’

Steve looked at him again. ‘Last chance to turn back,’ he said softly.

‘You know I need to come with you to prevent you from doing something stupid.’

Steve looked at him, and for a second Bucky wanted to say something, anything at all, just to drag out that moment of peace, but then Steve broke eye contact with him.

‘It’s time to go,’ he said, turning to Sam. ‘You and Rhodey will provide air support. Bruce will be using the new Hulkbuster armour but Tony never got around to fully finishing its flight system before he…’

Steve hesitated for a second, and Bucky saw his facial expression change. Bucky knew he regretted how things went with Tony, more than he would ever admit, and if Tony died before Steve could apologize to him…

‘… before he disappeared. That means Bruce will be on the ground.’

‘Wait… Banner is using a suit? Why?’ Sam asked. ‘I thought that suit was made to stop him, you know, just in case his green buddy goes a little too wild.’

‘Listen, all I know is that he and the Hulk have some problems,’ Steve answered. He looked at Bucky one more time, and then turned towards T’Challa. ‘I think we’re ready to go, your majesty.’

 

We are going to win. We are going to win. Bucky kept repeating the same phrase in his head, over and over again, forcing himself to believe it. He looked up at the massive alien ships, now silently towering over the trees, and then let his eyes drift downwards until he was looking at three people walking towards the forcefield. Steve, T’Challa and Natasha. As they approached the forcefield, two people appeared from the other side. One of them was big; not just a tall man, but gigantic, grey beast, probably twice as tall as a regular human. The other was smaller, and carried a blade. A strange silence had fallen over Wakanda, as if the whole world was holding their breath, anxiously waiting for something to happen. Bucky saw the smaller alien lift up their blade, and a slow, screeching sound started to fill the air. For a second, he didn’t understand where the sound came from, but then he realized the ships were moving. No, not moving… opening. The entire top of the ships started lifting up, and the screeching of metal mixed with another sound, an eerie, ominous screaming. He saw Steve and the others turn around and walk back their way.

‘Did they surrender?’ Bucky heard himself say, without taking his eyes off the ships.

‘Not exactly.’

‘I suppose it was worth a try.’

Before Steve had time to answer a dark six limbed creature appeared out of the tree line. And another. And then ten. Twenty. Within seconds the entire field was filled with monsters, running towards them and hurling themselves against the barrier.

‘What the-’

One of them pushed through the barrier.

He heard T’Challa yell something, and a blue energy beam quickly killed the creature, but more and more started to pour through the forcefield, some killing or dismembering themselves in the process. And then the chaos started. Shots were fired everywhere, every logical sound got drowned by the screaming of the beasts, and Bucky felt his vision clear up, like he had just woken up from a trance. No matter how weird and fucked up the situation was, the battlefield was something he knew. He looked over to Steve, who was fully focused on the ever-growing pack of creatures outside the barrier.

‘They are circling the barrier,’ Bucky heard him say softly.

T’Challa turned to Steve. ‘Then we better make sure to keep them here.’


End file.
